Expansion to Vegas Apparently "Done Deal"

The Atlanta pipe burst unexpectedly while the NHL was trying to do damage control in phoenix. I don't think they saw it coming. The league didn't have the time or resources to save the Thrashers. Frankly they just couldn't be bothered since it was a 2nd chance franchise anyway that should've never been given that chance. That offseason the NHL could've legitimately lost two southern franchises in the same week. All their chips were already in for Phoenix so Atlanta left for greener pastures with no resistance.

i do remember the Oilers crises and how they were supposedly close to moving to Houston, still I think their case is more Pocklington than the Canadian dollar. Montreal and Toronto never had any issues, neither did Vancouver. Calgary maybe...but that's a big canadien city so they were never moving. Ottawa was still very new at the time.

If given a redo on 1992-1993 expansion...I think the NHL probably puts a team in Hamilton instead of Ottawa. They have had some trouble there but it hasn't been an abject failure. however Hamilton is in the golden horseshoe. It would have been a sure thing.

The league saw it coming for years. The Atlanta owners had been feuding and suing one another for a long time. They looked for buyers for a long time. It didn't happen so they sold the team to True North and that was that. Just like with Winnipeg - there were no buyers who were interested in keeping the team in Winnipeg.

The league saw it coming for years. The Atlanta owners had been feuding and suing one another for a long time. They looked for buyers for a long time. It didn't happen so they sold the team to True North and that was that. Just like with Winnipeg - there were no buyers who were interested in keeping the team in Winnipeg.

Feuding owners doesn't = relocation. Heck Anaheim had an incarcerated owner. The Trash had a nice building...they didn't have relocation rumors swirling for years, they were still relatively new. I don't remember hearing anything about them moving until early 2011. And they were gone that spring.

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^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

This is clearly a litmus test for Vegas. If they can support an NHL team and not run afoul of the obvious there, I wouldnt be surprised to see NBA there next and possibly even NFL or MLB way down the line. Its a rapidly growing city and has been for a long time.

Feuding owners doesn't = relocation. Heck Anaheim had an incarcerated owner. The Trash had a nice building...they didn't have relocation rumors swirling for years, they were still relatively new. I don't remember hearing anything about them moving until early 2011. And they were gone that spring.

It is true that relocation rumors were not there. But it's the same deal as the Winnipeg Jets version 1 - if no one wants to buy the franchise in the city it's in, then either the league has to buy it from the people to keep it there, or the team has to relocate. Bettman said years before Atlanta ended up moving that Atlanta had serious ownership problems - the key is that in this case, Balsille wasn't involved and leaking info to the Canadian press about the sale.

This is clearly a litmus test for Vegas. If they can support an NHL team and not run afoul of the obvious there, I wouldnt be surprised to see NBA there next and possibly even NFL or MLB way down the line. Its a rapidly growing city and has been for a long time.

NBA...maybe. NFL, probably not since they will likely already have a team in LA by then (probably the Rams and maybe even next year) plus the whole gambling thing

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^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

Honestly, I'm ok with this, especially if it means Seattle gets a team. I know Las Vegas and Oklahoma City are obviously completely different, but the Thunder show what can happen when a team is the only major professional sport in town. Might be a risk, but it's worth it.

I dunno, I think Vegas and OkCity have more in common than first appears. Both have a lot of rollers--one dice and the other holy. Both are are consumed with issues of sin. Both cities have lots of books--one city has books for G-d and the other city books for sports. And finally each city has many large buildings dedicated to what they worship--G-d in one city and gambling in the other.

Yep, seems to me they're virtually the same place!

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Aaron / AEWHistory --- Rockies/Devils fan since 1981!

Trenton Makes and the World Takes..... Or.... Trenton Uses What the World Refuses

I know I'm digging up a months old thread, but with the league saying there will be a season ticket drive in Vegas to prove there's enough interest and it being speculated in the intermission just now that Vegas and Quebec City would be the two expansion locations, I figure it's a good time to bring this back up.

There's just no way in my mind that they allow expansion, but don't even out the conferences. So if QC is really a spot they will expand to, who moves west? Probably won't be Detroit after their move East was reported to be one of the more prominent reasons for the realignment. Does Columbus move back to the west?

Or is the talk of expansion to QC bs and another location like Seattle is really the place to be looking at?